TiZA kids seek new schoolsAfter losing legally required oversight, TiZA officials held out only a slim hope of keeping the charter school open.

A day after state officials e-mailed him shutdown instructions, the director of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) advised parents to find new schools for their children while holding out hope that, "by some miracle," the charter school can stay open.

Standing beneath a basketball hoop Friday evening, Asad Zaman faced a crowd of more than 100 parents in the gym of the school's Inver Grove Heights campus. Mothers and fathers sat apart on either side of an aisle, at this meeting of a school where the vast majority of families are Muslim.

"I have to tell you, most likely the school will not survive," Zaman said, estimating that TiZA has a 10 percent chance of staying open.